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He has painted some of the most notorious gangland bosses and infamous villains the country has ever known.

And now many of them – or their next of kin – will be gathering in one place to see his work on display.

Cambridge man Charles DeLaFeld, known as De Felde the artist, has spent the last year painting 15 portraits of gangsters from the Kray twins' era including 94-year-old Bert Rossi, Britain’s oldest living former London gangland boss, boxer Lenny McLean also known as "The Guv'nor," and Freddie Foreman, a convicted English criminal involved in the disposal of the body of Jack "the Hat" McVitie.

De Felde also painted the Kray twins, who in the early 1960s ruled London’s underworld in a reign of terror ended by life sentences for two murders.

Mad Frankie Fraser, gangster and criminal who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences, and Charles Bronson are also among his subjects.

Charles Bronson

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All 15 portraits will be on display at The Arts Theatre Club in Soho on January 29, a venue once frequented by the Kray twins.

“A lot of these people appreciate what you do,” De Felde told the News. “I don’t condone what some of these people have or haven’t done but for me it’s an important part of social history and it needs to be documented.

“If you look at historical paintings you used to have important people whether it’s kings, queens or anyone. It was something I wanted to do.”

The artist started painting his gangland subjects after approaching Steve Tully and asking to paint the cover of his book, Dodger – Pupil of the Krays.

“It kind of snowballed from there,” he said. “Most of the subjects I’ve met or met their next of kin. Most of them will be there, it will be an unusual kind of event.”

Mad Frankie Fraser

De Felde began painting when he was 16 and during his studies went to Florence which “was a massive influence” on him - including discovering a Baroque Italian painter.